Train hits car in Pottstown; 2 escape injury

Two women escaped injury after the car they were in was hit by a Norfolk Southern freight train at the Hanover Street crossing at 10:45 p.m. Thursday.

The two women in the car escaped before the collision, police said.

Pottstown police officer Gregory Fritz pulled the passenger, Morgan Gwillim of Sanatoga, to safety less than a minute before the train hit the car, according to Capt. Richard Drumheller.

“I think officer Fritz did a commendable job,” Drumheller said.

The driver, Gabriella Radatti, 21, of Birdsboro, was taking directions from Gwillim, also 21, when she accidentally turned and drove onto the tracks, police said. Radatti drove between 50 and 85 feet before she realized she was on the tracks, according to police.

Drumheller said Gwillim needed a ride home after she had been drinking.

“We did check the driver, and she was sober,” Drumheller said.

Radatti’s car was pushed 624 feet by the train and it stopped right before the South Charlotte Street overpass.

Norfolk Southern dispatched a crane to take the car off the tracks and the scene was cleared around 1:40 a.m. Friday.

No charges will be filed against Radatti Drumheller said.

Dave Pidgeon, a representative from Norfolk Southern, said that the train had three locomotives and was pulling 85 loaded cars. The track speed limit at the Hanover Street crossing is 40 miles per hour but Pidgeon said he had no information about how fast the train was going at the time of the incident.

The two crew members were unharmed and the cause of the crash is being investigated by Norfolk Southern.